Ontario explores employer-operated onsite vaccination clinics
Ontario is working with public health units, business groups and large employers to explore employer-operated onsite vaccination clinics, with a focus on hot spot communities at greatest risk, including Niagara. These clinics will be set up, operated and funded by participating employers within hot spot areas and will vaccinate employees aged 18 and over as well as members of the local and neighbouring communities. This capacity will supplement publicly-run vaccination clinics.
Employer-operated onsite clinics must have the support of local public health units and hospitals as the program needs to be consistent with local plans.
Employers interested in hosting an onsite clinic must meet the following criteria:
- The workplace must be located within an identified hot-spot community and have had a previous COVID-19 outbreak or is at risk of an outbreak.
- The onsite clinic will vaccinate employees that cannot work at home, many of whom reside in hot-spot areas.
- The employer will also vaccinate those in the local community, either at the onsite clinic or an alternative location in consultation with the local public health unit.
- The employer will take on the responsibility of setting up, operating and funding the onsite vaccination clinic as well as the community clinics being sponsored if not onsite.
Employers who are located within an identified hot-spot community and meet the eligibility criteria can inquire about hosting an onsite clinic by contacting covid19vaccinetaskforce@ontario.ca.
Canadian Chamber launches initiative to bolster Canada-U.S. trade relations
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce today announced a determined effort to renew the Canada-U.S. relationship as businesses weigh their growth opportunities post-pandemic.
The Canadian Chamber will work with its members to develop and drive forward tangible solutions that will be advanced with decision-makers in the United States and Canada. The Canadian Chamber’s work will particularly seek to advance business objectives tied to the Roadmap Partnership announced earlier this year by Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden.
The Canadian Chamber’s campaign will focus on five priority issues:
- Canada-U.S. border – As vaccination rates increase, businesses need a plan from government on how the border will reopen that is underpinned by clear metrics and dates.
- Buy American – Canadian exporters rely on access to the U.S. market, and it is critical that potential U.S. stimulus spending does not preclude opportunities for Canada.
- Defence and security – Our continental defence is underpinned by a shared industrial base, and it is imperative that supply chains in the defence and security industry remain tightly integrated.
- Environment and natural resources – Canada and the U.S. need binational approaches to shared environmental challenges and our energy infrastructure. The countries also need to accelerate work on critical minerals supply chains.
- Regulatory cooperation – Regulatory cooperation mechanisms need to be reinvigorated that deal with the nuts and bolts issues that can create headaches for companies of all sizes.
For more information about the Renewing the Canada-U.S. Relationship campaign, click here.
Community message from Niagara Health President
In the strongest terms, Niagara Health urges people of all ages to continue following public health measures to minimize further increases in COVID-19 cases in our region and help us protect capacity for life-saving critical care and other services amid unprecedented pressures on the healthcare system.
Niagara Health continues to experience a significant increase in COVID-19 activity at the hospital, including in our Intensive Care Unit. In less than two weeks, the overall number of COVID-19 positive patients in our care has increased from 11 on March 31 (the day before Good Friday) to 39 today. The patients we are seeing are younger, and there is an increase in transmissions of variants of concern in our region. There are a total of 1,062 confirmed active cases of COVID-19 in the region.
At this time, we are at 88% capacity in our ICUs (53 patients, which includes 12 patients with COVID-19). We are taking the proactive measure today of opening an additional three beds to increase our critical care capacity to a total of 63 beds given this rapidly changing environment. There are options for further expansion within Niagara Health, however, we do not have unlimited capacity to provide critical care.
The rally over the weekend, where hundreds were blatantly not following public health measures, was extremely discouraging for our dedicated healthcare teams and undoubtedly other essential workers who have been working full out to serve, and care for, our community for more than a year now.
COVID-19 in Niagara: Media Conference April 12, 2021
Reading recommendations
US agencies call for pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccine
BBC News
US health authorities are calling for a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, after reports of extremely rare blood clotting cases.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said six cases in 6.8 million doses had been reported and it was acting “out of an abundance of caution”.
Following the news, South Africa, the first country to use the jab, said it would suspend its rollout.
Johnson & Johnson said it would also delay its vaccine drive in Europe.
The US move follows similar rare cases in the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has prompted some curbs in its use.
Canada confirms 1st case of rare blood clot after AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
Adam Miller, CBC News
The first confirmed case of a condition that causes rare but potentially fatal blood clots has been recorded in Canada in connection with the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine.
Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services confirmed a person in the province had a case of the clotting condition known as vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT).
How to Stop Doing Everything Yourself
David Finkel, Inc.
When it comes down to it, a lot of business owners aren’t very skilled at the art of delegation. They may struggle with knowing when to hand off a project to a team member, how much or how little supervision is needed, and when and how to close the loop on a project that they have handed over. So, today I wanted to share with you how I teach my business coaching clients to stop doing everything themselves and start delegating projects to their team.
Niagara COVID status tracker (March 28-April 3)
Niagara’s most up-to-date COVID statistics, measured against the targets for the various stages of the Ontario COVID-19 Response Framework, are presented below. This does not predict government policy, but is offered to give you an idea of where Niagara is situated and how likely a relaxation (or further restrictions) may be. These data are the most recent published by Niagara Region. The Grey-Lockdown level does not have its own metrics, but is triggered when the COVID-specific measurements in a Red-Control region have continued to deteriorate.
▲: Metric has increased since last published measurement
▼: Metric has decreased since last published measurement
| December 18 | December 25 | January 1 | January 8 | January 15 | January 22 | January 29 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive number | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| New cases per 100,000 | 101.2 | 267.3 | 469.8 | 575.8 | 507.1 | 295.5 | 250.6 |
| New cases per day (not including outbreaks) | 60.7 | 178.7 | 311.7 | 376.9 | 325.4 | 182.7 | 145.7 |
| Percent of hospital beds occupied | 97% | 95.2% | 98.2% | 103.2% | 104.5% | 103.6% | 106% |
| Percent of intensive care beds occupied | 78.8% | 77.3% | 87.9% | 87.9% | 90.9% | 89.4% | 93.9% |
| Percentage of positive tests | 6.1% | 15.6% | 28.1% | 28.6% | 26.6% | 21.2% | 16.2% |
Definitions:
- Weekly Incidence Rate: the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people per week
- Percent Positivity: the number of positive COVID-19 tests as a percentage of all COVID-19 tests performed
- Rt: the reproductive rate, or the number of people infected by each case of the virus
Niagara COVID vaccination tracker (April 13)
Niagara’s most up-to-date vaccination numbers are presented below, along with comparison data from Ontario, Canada, and G7 countries.
Total doses administered in Niagara: 113,226
Total doses administered in Niagara since yesterday: 3,491
| Percentage of population with one dose | Percentage of population fully vaccinated | |
|---|---|---|
| Niagara | 82.7% | 78.2% |
| Ontario | 84.6% | 79.1% |
| Canada | 84.7% | 78.6% |
| United States | 75% | 64% |
| United Kingdom | 78% | 72% |
| Germany | 76% | 74% |
| France | 80% | 77% |
| Italy | 83% | 76% |
| Japan | 80% | 79% |
| World | 63% | 53% |
Data are drawn from Niagara Region, the Government of Ontario, and Oxford University’s Our World in Data project.
